I Have Nodes
by x-backtoblack-x
Summary: It was just easier to lie because telling the truth was just something Chloe wasn't ready to face. We all need someone to support us though, right?


Chloe watched as the Bella's filed away shortly after her confession, Aubrey having insisted they all go back to the choir room where she'd meet them in five minutes for an extra two hours of practice – adding that if they didn't perfect the steps by the end of it it'd be another two hours after that.

"You okay to come back with us?" Aubrey whispered once the rest of their team of misfits were gone, only feeling safe to let down her bossy façade when it was just her best friend.

"Yea I just… I just need to process for a bit, I'll be fine." Chloe reassured her, shooting the blonde one of her famous enthusiastic smiles.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you, I didn't know." Aubrey added, having fought an internal conflict over whether or not she should be sorry when she hadn't known what was wrong, deciding that when it came to her best friend it was necessary to apologise anyway.

"Bree it's cool. No one knew." Chloe told her truthfully. "I really will be fine… you just go whip them girls into shape." She added with another grin, this time her smile actually reaching her eyes, watching as her best friend smiled and nodded once at her before turning on her heel and walking away promptly after the Bella's.

The second Aubrey was out of sight Chloe felt her body slump and give an involuntary shudder, her smile slipping from her face and being replaced by hard fast tears that fell like a waterfall from her eyes, leaving no consideration for her makeup.

Nodes had been the first throat related illness that had run into her mind when she'd been confronted about her not so Aguileran voice. Well second illness actually; though telling them the truth was something Chloe just wasn't able to do right now. Vocal nodules, although once something she feared more than anything, was now pretty easy to tell people compared to the stone cold truth that she was faced with, throat cancer.

It was still in its early stages, and still very treatable, but none the less a scary reality for a twenty year old girl who's only dream since she'd been four years old was to be a singer. She supposed this had been why she was so scared to tell her fellow Bella's, even afraid to tell her best friend.

Saying it made it real, saying it made people worry, saying it actually made her that twenty year old girl with the chance of never singing again or never speaking again, and even though it shamed her, she just couldn't bring herself to tell her friends when she knew that would be the result.

As her turmoil continued Chloe failed to hear the approach of soft footsteps behind. Beca had of course in her haste to get away from the gruelling one woman dictatorship that was Aubrey, failed to notice when her scarf had come loose and fallen to the ground as she left. Aubrey hadn't been impressed – especially when that was the actual reason Beca had given for losing it – but had allowed the younger woman to go in search of it.

Upon rounding the corner to where she'd been getting given out to moments before Beca had instantly noticed Chloe, the red head sitting cross legged on the ground, face buried in her hands and obviously upset.

To be honest "shit" was the first thought that crossed Beca's mind when she saw this, never having been the best person to deal with criers, but something about the red head prevented Beca from running.

She hated to admit it, but she'd had an odd kind of soft spot for the blonde since their initial meeting at the activities fair, and not even an impromptu shared shower had been able to hinder that so far.

Perhaps this was the reason that Beca found herself approaching the crying woman rather than run in the opposite direction as fast as she could, and perhaps this was the reason that Beca found herself placing a hand awkwardly on Chloe's shoulder when the older woman didn't notice her at first rather than going in search of Aubrey.

"Jesus Beca, you scared me." Chloe half shouted at the brunette, trying quickly to wipe dry her tear stained eyes, although Beca had already seen the worst.

"Something up Chloe?" Beca questioned softly, yet with an awkward edge to her voice, taking one quick look around her before sitting in a similar position in front of the red head so she could look her in the eye.

"Huh? Oh no, I'm fine…" Chloe lied with an almost convincing smile to accompany it. "It's just been a long day… I just needed to let it all out." She added with a nod.

Beca sighed. She really should just accept that answer, even if it was a blatant lie, never having been one to care enough to get involved in other people's business. It was something about the way Chloe's blue eyes shone with vulnerability though, she couldn't help but press on regardless of her personal rules.

"Okay, I'm calling bullshit on that one." Beca informed Chloe with an eyeroll, letting her know that she was having none of her shit. "Chloe Beale, you're the bubbliest, most enthusiastic person I've ever met, like seriously it's disgusting. Whatever's getting you down is a lot more than a bad performance and your nodes… now tell me, because I want to help." She found herself saying, being oddly surprised when she didn't instantly regret her offer to lend a hand – this must be what nice people felt like all the time.

"I… I can't…I" Chloe stammered, unsure of where to go with her sentence.

"Please tell me?" Beca pleaded then, uncharacteristically inching into the red heads personal space while she spoke.

"My nodes." Chloe began with a disheartening sigh. "That's a lie…" She mumbled, Beca having to strain to hear her. "They're not… they're not vocal nodules."

"What is it then?" Beca questioned calmly, an unreasonable feeling of dread rising in her as she awaited her friends reply.

"… Cancer." Chloe whispered finally. "I uh… I have throat cancer." She choked out, a second round of tears washing over her without warning as she actually said the words aloud.

It took a moment to sink in for Beca. The younger woman wasn't quite able to make sense of what she'd been told at first. Chloe was only twenty, she didn't smoke, she only ever took a drink at parties, she exercise like way more than was normal – for Beca anyway – it just made no sense.

"Oh." Was what Beca settled on saying finally, realizing once the words had left her mouth that they weren't enough. "I'm here for you. I mean that, I'm here or you." She repeated her earlier sentiment, meaning it now more than ever, especially if she was the only person Chloe had told – which she figured, at this point anyway, she was.

"It means a lot. "Chloe told her, seeming sincere, even if the phrase itself was rather scripted. I just…. I don't know what to do." She admitted vaguely, emitting a long sigh when she spoke.

"What's your options?" Beca questioned softly.

"Not sure…" The red head admitted. "I've an appointment soon I guess." She added after a moment, not really seeming all that interested in the prospect.

"You guess?" Beca questioned, quirking her eyebrow in her friends direction.

"If I choose to take it that is…" Chloe explained with a casual shrug of her shoulders, not quite able to make direct eye contact with Beca when she spoke.

"Why the hell wouldn't you?!" Beca spluttered, trying to regain her composure when she realized how emotionally fragile Chloe probably was right now.

"I could lose my voice Beca… and I know that sounds stupid and unreasonable, but my voice is my gift. It's the most important thing I have and I don't know what I'd do if I lost it. "She admitted quietly. "I mean whatever they chose to do could work, but it also may not and I could end up being one of them cancer research guinea pigs that deteriorates for years but never quite dies, and I'll just be left as a shell of a person with no voice and no soul."

"Chloe… your health is the most important thing. You're so much more than just a voice and you'll never be a guinea pig to anyone if you fight this now. You just need to believe it. "Beca told her firmly, praying that her words wouldn't fall upon deaf ears.

"You really are the tits, you know that?" Chloe half laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. "Come on though, enough of this pity-party, we should probably go back to practice before Aubrey sends out a search party." She added, puffing out a breath and clearing her eyes once more, even managing to laugh softly as Beca rolled her eyes.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Beca was almost finished her most recent mix when a knock on the door of her dorm sounded out through the room. Kimmy Jin looked to be in no rush to answer from her position hunkered over her mac book and Beca sighed audibly to let the Asian woman know of her displeasure before checking who was at the door herself, only a little surprised when it was Chloe.

"Hey." The red head greeted awkwardly, standing in the threshold, obviously knowing that at this late hour even she should wait to be invited inside.

"Hey there." Beca responded, just as awkward, though in her case more due to her lack of experience with social situations. "Come in." She added with after a second, standing aside to let the older woman, who was still clad in her pyjamas, enter.

"Beca you didn't tell me you were having someone over… this is inconvenient to say the least." Kimmy Jin spoke up suddenly, shooting a glare at both of the white girls in the room.

"I'm sorry… I can…" Chloe started, Beca cutting her off before she had a chance to finish.

"Kimmy Jin, like it or not I live here too. You and your Asian friends were over all yesterday playing that stupid video game and I had to stay out, so time to return the favour… go bunk with someone else for the night." Beca authorised, knowing that Kimmy Jin's shock over her demanding tome would be enough to get what she wanted.

Sure enough the Asian woman packed up her mac book and grabbed her pyjama's, heading for the door without another word – though if her glares were anything to go by she would have been happy to give either woman a piece of her mind.

"Damn. Someone was having none of her Asian shit tonight." Chloe laughed once the door swung shut. "Should I be on the lookout for voodoo dolls resembling me now or something?" She added in mock fear.

"Voodoo dolls are African." Beca reassured her with a smirk. "Though coming over here probably did put your life in the hands of an angry Asian genius of some sort… so wanna tell me why you risked it?" She added, sitting down in her bed and patting the space beside her to indicate Chloe should do the same.

"I couldn't sleep." Chloe admitted, though that much was already apparent as the clock on Kimmy's side of the room flashed, showing them it was half one in the morning. "I just… everything's just running though my head over, and over again and I can't burden Aubrey, not with the five thousand things already going on in her life… you don't mind that it's you I come to, right?" She asked then, realizing not for the first time that she may be out of line by dumping all this on Beca.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you I'll be there for you before you actually open your aca-ears and listen to me?" Beca questioned, only half joking. "Now what is it that seems to be a bother to you?" She added.

"I think I've decided to go ahead of whatever treatment's best." Chloe explained with a hesitant smile, knowing this is what Beca would want to hear, and being ninety present sure it's what she wanted too. "I mean I'm not one hundred per cent, but I've an appointment in a week and a half and if I decide to operate on it I'll be getting it done over Christmas break." She added then.

"Well that's perfect." Beca stated, elaborating when Chloe looked at her in confusion. "I've no plans for Christmas anyway."

"Seriously?" Chloe laughed, not really having expected company.

"Yes, you big weirdo! Like hell I'm letting them hack at you with a scalpel without being there to mock you before and after." Beca promised.

"Hey, one joke about scalpels and I'm telling a nurse to kick you out!" Chloe warned, shoving Beca lightly.

"You'll miss me too much." Beca shot back with a smirk, shoving Chloe in return.

"Doubtful." Chloe replied indignantly. "In fact I'm leaving right now." She added threateningly, rising from the bed and slowly edging towards the door, waiting for Beca to stop her – because she knew the younger woman would eventually.

"You're seriously planning on going back across campus at nearly two in the morning in nothing but pyjamas?" Beca questioned, halting Chloe right on queue. "You can park yourself in Kimmys bed for the night. I'd say she'd hate you if she ever found out, but I think she already does."

Beca was going to comment on the look of horror that flashed across Chloe's face at this suggestion, but was side-tracked by the next phrase to come out the bubbly girl's mouth.

"Oh no." Chloe laughed, walking back towards Beca's bed. "I'm staying with you tonight, and we're cuddling." She informed the shorter woman with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"You are not!" Beca all but shouted as Chloe crawled up the length of the bed and lay herself out in the corner beside the wall, indicating for Beca to lie down. "I like my personal space." She defended.

"So does everyone until they realize how great cuddling is." Chloe argued back. "I'll even be the big spoon." She promised.

"I don't even know what that is… so no." Beca told her, rolling her eyes as the older woman pouted.

"Beca Mitchell, I am sick and could lose my voice for good… cuddle with me!" Chloe demanded; soft but threatening.

"Wow. That one was below the belt." Beca commented with a wide eyed look.

"I think it's called a cancer perk…" Chloe teased, patting the space beside her once more.

"This is ridiculous." Beca huffed, lying down all the same and letting Chloe wrap her arms around her waist, pulling Beca in close to her side, as the younger woman fixed the bed sheets around them.

It was awkward at first, but Beca eventually managed to let herself relax, placing one of her own hands over Chloe's and letting the other trace patterns in the red heads forearm, gradually beginning to feel herself drift off into a peaceful sleep with Chloe's soft breaths against the back of her neck helping her do so.

"G'night Beca." Chloe whispered after a while, Beca more feeling the words than hearing them as the breath played across her ear.

"Night Chloe." Beca replied, her words slightly slurred from sleep as she finally let her eyes fall shut.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"You okay?" Beca hummed softly, Chloe's head resting against her shoulder as they sat in the crowded doctor's waiting room.

"Mhm… just nervous." Chloe sighed in return, repositioning herself against the crook of Beca's neck in a way that caused her hair to tickle the younger woman, not that Beca minded. "I mean this is it you know, make or break as to whether it's a good idea for them to just operate, or whether they need to shrink it first." She told the brunette unnecessarily – Beca being all too aware what today meant.

"You're going to rock it." Beca reassured her friend. "Well… your throat will rock it anyway." She added, realizing there wasn't much Chloe herself could do in this situation to tip her odds either way.

"Thanks." Chloe sighed again, weaving her arm in through Beca's and clasping around Beca's forearm, the younger woman finding she didn't mind the physical contact as much as she would have in the past.

In fact ever since that night in her dorm they'd become a lot more touchy feely. Well more so Chloe, as Beca was still yet to initiate the contact, though she at least didn't pull away now which was something.

"Chloe Beale?" A nurse called then, pulling both women from their thoughts.

"Wish me luck." Chloe muttered as she stood; straightening out her top and taking the first tentative step towards the office door.

"You're gonna rock it." Beca called after her, smiling to herself when Chloe turned to grin at her before disappearing into the room.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I've never been to Florida before." Beca commented absently as they wandered out of the airport and into a relatively warm day – given that it was just a few weeks before Christmas.

"You know that means I get to give you a tour." Chloe informed her with a giddy excitement, pulling on the hand she hadn't let go of since they'd reclaimed their bags and dragging her towards the first waiting taxi.

"Oh, where you taking me then?" Beca laughed, untangling their hands to help the cabbie put their two cases in his trunk.

"Well…" Chloe started, pausing to think on her answer. "I live in a pretty boring town history and culture wise, and I'm not even kinda close to Disney Land… How about ice-skating?" She offered with a grin.

Beca sighed. She hated ice-skating, and winter sports in general for that matter, but she knew what Chloe was doing. As much as doctors reassured her that she'd wake up fine from her surgery, which was the next day, the older woman hadn't stopped worrying since the appointment three weeks ago, and Beca couldn't help but worry with her.

So when an offer of a day like this, a day when they could just let go for a while and have some fun before facing Chloe's parents that evening did come up, she wasn't about to say no.

"Fine, fine… lets do this." Beca replied gruffly, rolling her eyes at Chloe's enthusiastic squeal, the other woman practically lunging across the seat and planting a quick kiss into Beca's cheek before telling the cab driver where to go.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Beca was beat by the time their hour on the rink was up – both literally and figuratively, as falling on your ass, and probably fracturing your coccyx, for an hour as your friend skates circles around you can be both physically and emotionally draining – and she was glad to get back in the cab and head to Chloe's home, even lying her head atop Chloe's when the older woman rested hers against Beca's shoulder in the back seat.

Chloe's house was modest, sitting in the middle of a cul-de-sac amongst ten similar buildings. Chloe's like the others had something that made it unique though, and Beca felt oddly at home even as she walked up the driveway to the front door.

"Welcome to the epicentre of crazy." Chloe smirked before giving a brisk knock to the red door and a quick squeeze to Beca's hand.

"Chloe!" A loud and spirited voice boomed; the owner appearing seconds later as the door was swung open to reveal a stout middle aged man with greying hair – though it was going white rather than grey – and eyes identical to Chloe.

"Dad!" Chloe screamed back just as enthusiastically, propelling herself into the older man's waiting arms, being lifted off the floor when she done so.

"Chloe darling, how are you?" A woman Beca could only presume was Chloe's mother asked as she immerged from behind her husband, the woman being what Beca imagined Chloe to look like when she was in her early fifties.

"I'm good mom, I'm pretty good." Chloe informed the older woman, nodding her head enthusiastically.

"You won't be if you keep shouting at me like that." Her father laughed. "You're meant to be resting them vocal nodules of yours." He reminded his daughter.

"I know dad, I know." Chloe replied, at least having the courtesy to blush as she seemed to forget to correct her father's mistake.

Beca was shocked. Beca was so shocked she didn't at first hear Chloe's mother ask her who she was, only snapping out of it when Chloe was forced to do the introduction for her.

"This is Beca mom. She's a really good friend of mine from college and she had nowhere to go for Christmas so I said she could come with me as long as she was there for moral support on the day of my operation." Chloe explained with a smile. "I hope that's okay." She added as an afterthought, knowing anyway it would be.

"It's fine, of course it's fine!" Her mother waved off the suggestion. "You make yourself feel right at hope Beca." The older woman added.

"Thank you Mrs Beale, I will." Beca replied politely, her mind still reeling from what she'd just heard.

"Now, now, no need to call me that. It's Sandra honey, and this is my husband Jim." She added, introducing them both with a smile. "Now you two go unpack, dinner will be ready later if you want any?"

"Naw mom it's cool, we ate at the airport." Chloe waved off her mother's offer merrily. "I'll show Beca to our room." She added then, grabbing the petite brunette by the hand again and dragging her away up the stairs.

"What the fuck Chloe?" Beca hissed the second the door of Chloe's childhood room was closed behind her. "You didn't tell them you have cancer? They think it's just nodes?" She fired the questions, feeling her anger boil.

"It's not a big deal Beca." Chloe told her, guilt twisting her features letting the younger woman know that the red head knew this statement wasn't entirely true. "I'll be fine… it'll be fine. I just don't want them worried." She explained.

"It'll be fine… what if it's not fine Chloe? What if something happens to you? Then what to I tell them?!" Beca half shouted, knowing she should at least try to keep her voice low, but finding this strenuous at the moment.

"So you don't think I'll make it then?" Chloe shot back, ignoring Beca's questions as her features dropped to a look of shock and sorrow.

"That's not what I said Chloe… I just..." Beca tried to reason, being cut short by the other woman.

"You don't need to say it Beca. It's what you're thinking and that's enough." Chloe spat, tears welling in her eyes. "I can't believe… I can't believe you've thought all along." She tried to maintain her voice, willing it not to waver though it did anyway.

"How dare you think that." Beca shot suddenly, her own sorrow melding together with her anger. "How dare you think that, when I can't let myself think the worst! I can't let myself think that you won't make it Chlo' because every damn morning I wake up scared that we'll get here, and they'll tell you it's grown and that it has to be treated with Chemo. Then six months from now they'll tell you it's not working and they'll keep trying new things but eventually they'll just have to give up. It's all I can do not to think that from the second I wake up in the morning until I go to bed at night and part of me feels like I should distance myself from you to save me the pain, but then I realize I can't. I can't because if I'm right – which by the way, I don't think I am, and doctors don't think I am, I just can't help but be pessimistic sometimes – well I could only have a few more months with you, and I as much as I want to run, I also want to spend every second with you that I can." She finally concluded, hot tears rolling off her cheeks.

"You really… that's really…" Chloe didn't know how to finish her sentence, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pent up emotion Beca had just unleashed on her.

"Yea, that's really how I feel or whatever." Beca sighed eventually, feeling no calmer now than she had when she'd started speaking. "I uh… I need to go clear my head, I'll be back later." She said then suddenly, turning on her heel and walking out the door without another word.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After their fight Chloe felt emotionally exhausted, and had wanted nothing more than to curl up in her old bed and sleep before what was to come the next day. She wasn't sure where Beca had gone to, or if she'd be coming back before her operation, but by ten o clock that evening Chloe figured the younger woman had made her decision, letting herself fall into the folds of her warm bed sheets then and quit waiting up for the brunette.

It took her another hour before she finally began to feel her eyelids droop, though her mind refused to let them close fully, every possible outcome of the next day playing over and over again as it had been since she'd gotten the diagnosis. It felt more ominous now than ever though, something about the looming date setting Chloe's stomach on edge as well as her mind.

She tossed and she turned and it wasn't until a quarter to twelve when she heard the door of her room creek slowly open that she finally lay still.

She knew it was Beca - even if she was facing away from the door - but stayed quiet anyway, listening as the younger woman changed into pyjamas and tiptoed towards the bed, Chloe feeling the dip as she got in.

There were still no words communicated between them, no apologies for their earlier argument, no conversation about what tomorrow meant for them both and Beca didn't even check if Chloe was still awake. Instead for the first time ever Beca initiated the contact; sliding her body as close to Chloe's as she could and wrapping her arms protectively around the red heads waist as Chloe had done to Beca that night in the DJ's dorm, the younger woman planting a soft kiss on the back of Chloe's neck before laying her head down on the pillow.

The comfort that washed over Chloe in that moment made her realize something other than her fear. It made her realize that what she'd told Beca when she'd first admitted her cancer, about her voice being the most important thing to her, was wrong. It wasn't her voice that kept her going or kept her smiling, it was the young woman currently curled into her side. Beca had become in every sense of the word Chloe's pillar over the last few months and in some ways so much more that Chloe was afraid to admit to.

Chloe wasn't sure why, but this notion comforted her and as she felt Beca's soft breaths against her cheek it was all Chloe needed to let herself begin to drift off into slumber.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Chloe was good, Chloe was really good. Chloe thought morphine was pretty damn good too because right now she was pretty sure the tiles on the ceiling of the hospital room were waving at her. The fact that she'd had to have people poke inside her mouth for a while wasn't really nice, but getting morphine so it wouldn't hurt her was.

She was also happy now because she was able to see Beca for a while before her surgery, and Chloe had a plan. The plan wasn't easy to remember when she was this high, but it didn't matter, because it was a plan none the less.

"Hey there dopey." Beca's voice called through the haze, Chloe having to blink a few times before she noticed the brunette standing beside her bed.

"Beca. Becky, Bec, Beca!" Chloe cheered, her smile seeming manic as she called her friends name.

"Someone liked the morphine then, huh." Beca laughed, having never seen her friend act quite so spaced before.

"It makes stuff wave at you." Chloe explained seriously and in awe, confused when her statement caused Beca to laugh. "It does!" She insisted with a pout.

"I have no doubt it does Chlo'." Beca sniggered, trying her best to school her features as her friend continued to glare. "So you all ready?" She asked eventually.

"Not really… I've one more thing to do first." Chloe told her, trying her best to remember exactly what that one thing was.

"Oh… anything in particular?" Beca queried with a smile, the concentration lines on Chloe's face being rather cute.

"Yea I…" Chloe paused, taking a second longer to make sure she was going to be able to say the right words in the right order before she continued. "I want to go on a date with you. Like dinner and kissing and other date stuff." She explained.

Beca smiles, she can't help it really. Chloe may be off her face on morphine right now, and just a little on the crazy side, but still, hearing that drugged up Chloe wanted to go on a date with her gave her a warm feeling inside, even if she was just a little afraid the red head girl wouldn't have the same notion once fully recovered.

"How about, once you're out of surgery you ask me again?" Beca commented softly, just as a doctor and two nurses came into the room.

"Yea… then too." Chloe agreed, not entirely sure what she was agreeing to, and not caring either as Beca leant over her and softly placed a kiss on her forehead, smiling when she pulled back.

"Good luck." Beca whispered close to her face, Chloe merely smiling as she was wheeled away and the image of Beca became smaller and smaller.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Beca Mitchell had never been good at waiting. She'd waited three miserable years before her parents got divorced, she'd waited through four years of high school to be able to leave for LA – only to find she was being thrown into university instead – she was still struggling at Aubrey's hands over having a say in set listings for the Bella's, yet now here she was again, in the shortest and yet the longest wait of her life in the crowded yet lonely waiting room.

Around her she watched as people received news, both good and bad. She watched as families either burst into tears of joy or sorrow. It was funny really, how similar the two emotions could seem when described rather than viewed. Both times there were tears, both times there was hugging. The words spoken were the only real difference. Whether the doctors were thanked of if they were screamed at, whether a mother laughed through her tears or screamed though them.

Words really were the only thing that held certain emotions apart, much like it was Chloe's words and her music that held her apart from most people. Her unique ability to make someone smile with just a few encouraging sentences or make a room full of people stand up and dance with only a few notes being something that held her apart, and on a higher par than most people.

Beca knew it would be different if Chloe lost her voice. She knew nothing would ever be the same again in fact, but she also knew, without really having to psychoanalyse why she knew this, that her and Chloe's relationship wouldn't change regardless of whether the red head had her words anymore or not.

She wasn't entirely sure how serious the older woman had been when she'd asked about the date – if morphine could make inanimate objects wave at you it could probably also convince you that you had a crush on your friend – and although she told herself she shouldn't get her hopes up she couldn't help but think how much she'd actually like to give the pair a chance.

She'd never been close with people before. Sure she had friends, especially the Bella's, but she'd never been close enough with a person to miss them when they weren't around before and yearn to be closer to them when they were. At first she'd put it down to simply not knowing how to act around someone as touchy feely as Chloe, but it was more than that, it was so much more.

She'd realized it when she'd let slip to Chloe how she felt the night they'd argued. She wasn't just afraid of losing a friend, she was afraid of losing a confident, a person that made her life just that bit more bearable, especially if she was having a bad day and wanted nothing more to walk the hell out of Barden and never look back.

As much as she'd been Chloe's pillar over the last few months Chloe had turned out to be the same, if not more, for her, and it was something that Beca just wasn't willing to lose.

"Chloe Beale?" A deep, authoritative voice called, Beca's head instantly shooting up to make eye contact with the male nurse who spotted her head jutting up and walked to her instantly. "You're family?" He asked.

"Yes." Beca lied, not caring to explain her situation with Chloe. "I'm her sister." It was a shit lie – I mean they didn't even kind of look similar - but enough to get the nurse to open up to her which was all that mattered.

"She's in recovery. Everything went well" He informed her.

"And her voice? How's her voice?" Beca instantly questioned, knowing that above anything else this was the main concern.

"She's not allowed to speak for a few days, and she'll never be able to go above a G sharp again, but she will sing, she'll still be able to sing and talk." He explained.

"Can I go see her?" Beca asked then, her initial fears dissipating and now she was practically itching to see the red head.

"Of course, just follow me." He commanded with a smile, leading her out of the waiting room and down a long corridor, stopping outside a ward door. "She's in the last bed; she woke up a few minutes ago."

Beca nodded once before pushing the door open, half sprinting through the row of beds to the end wall.

"Well hey there." Beca called softly when she stepped up to the bed, Chloe waving a greeting. "Everything went well then." The brunette commented then, taking a seat at the edge of Chloe's bed.

Chloe stuck up two thumbs at this statement and smiled, before reaching to the locker at the side of the bed and picking up a pen and a notepad.

"I do believe I had something to ask you though…" She scrawled neatly across the first line, looking up expectantly at Beca.

"I do believe that's correct." Beca nodded with a grin, watching as Chloe hunched over the paper to write more.

"Well?" Chloe scribbled then.

"Well… I'm taking you to dinner the second you're able to eat." Beca informed her, her smile growing as the red head beside her grinned like an idiot and pulled her into a tight hug.


End file.
